Amper’s smart scheduling makes planning production simpler than ever.

The tool combines your ERP’s job data and real-time shop floor data so you can schedule jobs based on reality.

Thanks to its multiple views, drag-and-drop functionality, and smart forecasts, it’s easy to plan and monitor your jobs.

Plus, any changes will automatically update timelines and alert teams, so everyone stays on track and on the same page.

RESOURCES

🎥 DEMOS

• Demo
• Webinar

📑 LITERATURE

• Blog

👟 WALKTHROUGH

• Self-guided tour

How do I get it?

If you don’t see it in Standards > Scheduling, talk to your CSE to get access.

How do I use it?

There are currently two views for Scheduling: Table and Kanban.

In both views, each element of the schedule is a job (as a row in the table or a card in the Kanban).

Table + Kanban

Click Table in the header on the Scheduling page to access the table.

Each job will be shown as a row within a machine.

Click Kanban Board in the header on the Scheduling page to access the Kanban.

Each job will be shown as a card within a machine column.

Each job will display the Job Name, Status, Hours Remaining, Priority, Target End Time and Projected End Time.

You’ll also be able all targets and actuals for Parts, Cycle Time, and Utilization. Setup Time is available in the Kanban.

Completion Percentage is shown as both a number and a visual progress bar in the Kanban. This is calculated based on your actual vs. target part count.

Drill-In View

Click on the job name in the table view to access the drill-in for that job.

The drill-in will show the details of that Job, including Part, Work Order, Machine, and Operator. It will also show all targets vs. actual metrics, projected end dates, and target end dates.

Click the Back button in the top left corner to return to the main schedule.

Statuses

• Active - this job is currently on an active tally sheet
• Paused - this job was started at some point, but is not on an active tally sheet
• Ready - this job is upcoming and has not been started. If you’re opted into Changeover Prep then it will also reflect the completion of the prep tasks.
• Not Ready (X) - this job has not been started, and not all prep tasks are complete. You will only see this status if opted into Changeover Prep, otherwise all jobs that have not been started will be labeled as Ready.

Schedule Sorting

• Jobs are ordered based on Priority and Target End Date.
• The Active job will always be at the top of the list
• The order will then go by Urgent and High priority jobs, with jobs with no priority following last.
• Within each of these priority groups, the jobs will be sorted by Target End Date
• If there are multiple jobs with the same Target End Date within a priority category, they will be sorted by created date
• If there are no priorities assigned, then they will be sorted by Target End Date

Drag and drop

In both the table and the Kanban, you can drag and drop the jobs into different priority groups to change the sorting order.

In the table, click on the dots to the left of the job row.

In the Kanban, click on the dots in the top right corner of the card.

Hold and drag the job around the page to move it to a different machine and/or priority.

In both cases, once you’re clicking on the icon, you’ll see the “drop zones” for each priority group appear. You can drag and drop the job into a new machine, new priority group, or both.

Quick add

You’ll see several ➕ or ➕ Quick Add buttons throughout the Scheduling page (both in the table and Kanban views).

Click any of these buttons to initiate the job creation process.

When you choose to click the add button from within a specific row on the table or column of the Kanban, the job will be created with the associated machine.

Hours remaining

Hours Remaining is the number of work hours left to complete the job.

It’s calculated based on the current part count, the target part count, utilization, and cycle times.

Actual utilization and cycle time is used if the job has been started.

Target utilization and cycle time is used if the job has not been started.

Note that it is cycles remaining and not parts remaining.

Projected end time

Projected End Time is the date + time that Amper estimates the job will be completed (target part count met).

Projected End Time is determined by several factors:

1. Labor Hours Remaining: The number of work hours left to complete the task.
2. Setup Hours Remaining: The time needed to prepare or set up before the task can start.
3. Shift Schedule: The working hours allocated for a specific machine each day.
4. Previous Job's End Time: The estimated completion time of the task scheduled before the current one.

To calculate the projected end time, we start from the projected end time of the previous job in the schedule. From there, we estimate how long it will take to accumulate enough shift hours to cover the remaining labor and setup hours.

Example:

• A machine has 95 labor hours and 5 setup hours remaining, totaling 100 hours.
• The previous job in the schedule is expected to be completed at 12:00 AM on May 14th.
• The machine is in shift 10 hours a day, every day of the week.

Given the 100 hours of estimated work required and the 10-hour daily shifts, it will take 10 days to reach 100 hours. Therefore, the projected end time for the job is calculated as 12:00 AM on May 24th (10 days later)

For any job that is not currently active, the projected end time will also take into account the estimated time required/projected end times of the previous jobs. So if the active job is running late, we’ll show you how that will have a waterfall effect throughout the rest of the schedule.

Projected End Time will be green if the job is on track and red if it is running behind.

The projected end time of a job essentially becomes the projected start time of the subsequent job.

In Copilot (operator interface)

If you’re opted into scheduling, your operators will be able to see whats coming up next while they’re using the operator interface.

When selecting a new job from the drop down in Copilot, there will be a clear indicator showing them the Next Up job. They’ll still be able to pick any job from the list, but Copilot shows them which is the one they should pick.

Once they’re in the tally sheet view of Copilot, they can also peek at the list of upcoming jobs using the Next Up button on the bottom toolbar.

On the Scoreboard

If you’re opted into scheduling, the scoreboard will also show you what job is coming up next.

Previously, the scoreboard just showed you how many upcoming jobs were Urgent and High Priority, but now we’ll also show you the name of the job that’s coming up next.

This can be found in the bottom right corner of each machine on the scoreboard.